The Monster They Made Me
by BubbleInk
Summary: He wanted nothing more than to see them kneel. He wanted nothing more than to see her golden blood soaking the ground beneath him. He wanted this seemingly endless thirst for death to be satisfied. But most of all, Perseus Jackson simply wanted revenge. Rated T cause I'm paranooodles.
1. Chapter 1

_**We've been here forever**_

_**And here's the frozen proof**_

_**I could scream forever**_

_**We are the poisoned youth**_

_**Remember me**_

_**For centuries**_

_**~Fall Out Boys : Centuries~**_

The lights from the windows and billboards of the great city of New York did nothing to illuminate the gray buildings that reached into the stormy heavens. Rain pelted the ground relentlessly. Each drop of water hit any surface it could reach before merging into one of the many fast rushing streams that submerged the roads and sidewalks, filling the shoes of any person who was unfortunate to step into it.

The rain was like a shimmering wet curtain who's sole purpose was to blind the terrified mortals upon the earth. Occasionally it's silver sheen would turn yellow as lightening flashed and thunder shook the world.

Zeus was truly angry that night.

The city was filled with the usual noise of cars and and swearing and the occasional siren wail that would echo in the vast metropolis. Except for the long black warehouses by the ocean docks. No one was there and the buildings had been abandoned too long ago for anyone to care if they were knocked down. And yet a lone figure appeared, just as lightning lit the world with bright white light. She had appeared by the worst looking warehouse, seeming to have come from thin air.

She seemed like a regal and powerful woman what with the way she carried herself and how even the rain seemed hesitant to get near the aura of power that radiated off her form. With the way her black hair was styled and the beauty of her piercing gray eyes, she could have passed as a goddess. Maybe she was.

She remained in front of that broken warehouse patiently waiting for something to happen. Her gray eyes never moved from the doors and it was not too long before her patience was rewarded. Almost undetectable at first, a fine white fog had begun to seep from the uppermost cracks in the door. It flowed like syrup down the wood until it was entirely covered. A few tendrils crept forward to wind around the woman's legs like an affectionate cat. It was cold, and unlike the still pouring rain, it managed to soak whatever part of her clothes it touched.

But then it dissolved, leaving no trace it had even been there. Even the moisture in the woman's jeans was gone.

The woman shivered once though the summer air was warm. She reached out a hand to open the doors but she hesitated and drew back, a look of nervousness adorned her regal features. The reason? The doors. They were blacker than a starless sky, as black as Nyx and all her children mixing their darkness together, and they radiated pure, untainted hatred.

The hatred wasn't meant for her, at least, she wasn't the cause of it, but it still rolled over her like an endless wave. But she forced herself to steel her resolve and straighten her back, showing no signs of weakness. She strode forward with purpose, pushing the doors open to reveal what was behind them.

She walked into the warehouse, only to freeze a few inches over the threshold. Behind her, the doors closed. Doors as thick and heavy as those should have made a sound, but instead of it echoing like normal, the sound became muffled as though she was hearing it from underwater before it disappeared altogether.

Around the woman, and seeming to stretch on forever was white. Nothing but pure endless white. The lack of shade gave no sens of space and a wall could have easily been in front of her, but she would have never known unless she touched it. Except in front of her there was no wall. Only a sinister looking castle.

It was strange to see something in this land of nothing but anything was welcome to ward of this feeling of unease. She walked up to it and studied it carefully. It wasn't very big, a small castle probably about the size of a large mansion. She drew to a halt as the castle doors barred her passage.

A sudden overwhelming sense to run overcame her and she forced herself to quell the human instinct and raised a white knuckled fist to knock upon the door thrice. The door swung open almost instantly to reveal a young girl who was like the woman in the fact they both radiated ancient energy.

But that was were the similarities ended. Unlike the older woman, the girl had curly cinnamon hair to her straight black, and chocolate skin to the woman's pale white. And that wasn't the only difference. The other was her eyes. They were beautiful, at least the color was. Wonderful gold eyes. But her eyes were also pupil-less. They lacked white's and iris'. They were pure gold.

"Lady Athena." The girl said and began to bow respectively but the older woman held up her hand with the ghost of a smile upon her usually stern face.

"Please," She said to her. "We are equals now, no bowing is necessary Hazel." The girl bit her lower lip nervously before nodding and straightening.

"Yes Lady Athena. I, uh...take it your here to see Percy?" Athena nodded solemnly, all traces of a smile gone from her face.

Hazel stepped aside to let her in before she led her deeper into the house. Athena cast a critical eye at all she saw and was pleased to see that while the castle had medieval origins, the Greek and Roman artifacts skillfully placed all around revealed the castle inhabitants true heritage.

They passed several doors and headed down a dozen corridors before they finally managed to reach the beginning of the spiral staircase towards the top of the northeastern tower. Once they reached the top, they came upon a simple wooden door. Golden light streamed from the crack between the bottom of the door and the floor. Flickering shadows and the murmur of incoherent voices betrayed the fact that there were people inside.

Hazel didn't even hesitate before she pushed open the door and strode into the room with Athena fallowing behind. She quickly scanned the room. It was small, a fireplace in one corner gave off the heat and light while the only other objects in the room were the five chairs and single table placed in the middle.

Three figures seated around the table turned in eerie unison to look at the pair as they entered. Once their eyes rested on Athena they pushed back their chairs and made to bow. "Lady Athena." Said one boy. But just as before she held up her hand to stop them.

"We are equals." She chided them. "We must act as such." The boys shared a look before nodding. Athena took a seat in an empty chair and everyone took their places as well. "Please, continue your conversation from before." She said as she folded her hands in front of her.

"Uh, Okay. Well, I know a way into Bunker Nine through a secret tunnel that starts in the back of a Starbucks." Leo Valdez spoke, and once again Athena was shocked with how normal he looked though he radiated a fiery and energetic aura. In fact, Athena would not have been scared of him at all if his eyes had been normal.

The eyes were what revealed the power manifested in the four childrens souls. Windows to the souls.

Athena's gaze traveled around the table to rest on Frank Zhang. He was different, thanks to that blessing from his father the insufferable god Ares.

But the one who had definitely changed the most was the teenager sitting at the head of the table, listening and watching in silence. Athena had seen him change over the years. She'd seen him claimed by her uncle, seem him complete quest after quest in the gods name. Seen him fall in love with her daughter. She had seen her daughter break his heart.

And she had seen more change in him in those few seconds of betrayal than in all his years as a demigod.

His eyes, once warm and lively, were now cold as stone. His carefree smirk had been replaced with an emotionless mask. And as she watched him an animal like sense of fear gripped her heart and she inwardly shivered.

If those who had done him injustice could see him now, they would be shaking in uncontrollable terror. Assuming of course, if he let them live long enough to feel anything.

"Perseus." She spoke up suddenly. Everyone turned to stare at her and in the sudden and immediate quiet she couldn't help but wonder if she should have said anything at all.

She stared calmly ahead into the eyes of the man she had addressed.

"As fascinating as this is, I can only assume you did not ask me here to talk about invasion tactics." She said dryly, her voice steady and calm. She held his gaze and refused to blink or look away from him."What is your plan?"

Perseus smirked and leaned back in his chair. "My plan is quiet simple." He said leisurely. "Train an army of Half-Bloods hundreds strong. Destroy Camp Half-Blood and then march on Olympus. The gods will be practically defenseless without their heroes." He leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. He was daring her to speak the question they all knew was running through her mind.

"And how do you think this plan will work? How do you think you will win?" She said boldly while struggling not to cower. She was Athena, Ancient Goddess of Greece. She did not cower.

Percy laughed at her question. He _laughed._ A cruel, heartless sound that held no mirth. "How do I think I will win?" He repeated. He grinned maliciously. "Why, Lady Athena, I _know _I will win. Why?" He lowered his voice dangerously low. "Because the gods themselves trained their destruction."

He lowered his gaze to hers, and this time she had no choice but to look away.


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm gonna say this right now, I have absolutely no schedule so my updates will be extremely random. Also, my apologies for the late update. I write down my chapters in a journal first and it's been taking a while to finish this chapter so, sorry.**

**And, thank you for all of you reviewing and fallowing and favoriting. :D I honestly didn't think this story would get this much attention.**

**yjo2: I think your excellent at english.**

**Aroissa: I am so happy to hear that!**

**Candycrum: I'll try and update often.**

**ME who else: Thanks :)**

**Dogbiscuit1967: Honestly, I did flashbacks in my story 'Too Far Gone' so I'm gonna try a different route this time.**

**DarkMando: HI! I'm so glad your reading some of my other stories.  
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**Candyisyummy83: Thank you.**

**Okay, next chapter. I hope you guys enjoy and aren't too surprised by it. Remember, R&R guys! Reviews are what make the world go round!  
><strong>

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><p><strong>I'm no Hero<strong>

**And I'm not made of stone**

**Right or wrong, I can hardly tell.**

**The wrong side of Heaven,**

**The righteous side of Hell  
><strong>

**~ Five Finger Death Punch : Wrong Side of Heaven ~**

No matter what she had said, Khrys' mom had stood her ground about the new school for 'The Mentally Gifted' as she had so kindly put it, and now here the young teen was, miles from her apartment and heading towards a school she had never heard of but already dreaded.

From what Khrys could glean from her view out the window in the back of the bus, they were heading towards the seaside. So, yay! She can swim after school! Khrys snorted at her own thoughts and returned her attention to glaring at everyone out the window until someone plopped themselves into the empty seat next to her.

Khrys frowned in irritation and crossed her arms over her chest. "What are you doing?" She demanded to the blond haired wonder who had sat down beside her.

"Sorry." She said sheepishly."But my brother was being annoying and this was the only free seat." She smiled and stuck out her hand. "I'm Kathy by the way."

Khrys took her hand slowly and shook it once before dropping it. "Khrys." Was all she said. She narrowed her eyes as she studied her new neighbor. Blond hair, blue eyes, blinding white smile and thin build screamed typical snobby popular school girl.

"Is this your first year?" Kathy asked and once again broke Khrys' train of thought. Khyrs grunted and nodded before slouching in her seat and returned to stare out the window.

"Mine too." Kathy informed her. "I was planning on coming for the summer program but I couldn't 'cause I had to visit family but my brothers been coming to this school since it first opened like, three years ago but there's already hundreds of kids which is strange ya know?" Khrys politely nodded as she stared out the window but she was beginning to lose interest.

Kathy started poking her arm repeatedly and Khrys whipped her head around to glare at her. "What?" She snapped but Kathy didn't even flinch.

"I asked what class's you thought you might be in." She huffed. Khrys only stared at her in confusion.

"Um.. I guess math and science and stuff? You know, the things they teach kids in school?"

Kathy seemed to find that funny as she suddenly giggled nervously and her eyes darted to stare at her sneakers. Khrys was about to demand what was so funny when _another _kid sat in the remaining seat.

"Oh my gods." He whined. "Everyone on this bus is ,like,_ so _stupid." Khrys raised her eyebrow at the kids choice of the word 'gods' but didn't comment on it. The kid rested his head on Kathy's shoulder and pouted at her. "You agree with me don't you?" He asked. Kathy laughed and shoved him off her.

"Ezra!" She giggled. "Stop!" She blinked and seemed to suddenly remember the other occupant on the seat who was pushing herself up against the window.

"Khrys," Kathy began and jabbed a thumb at the grinning teenager sitting next to her. "This shoe-face is Ezra. Ezra, this is Khrys."

Ezra grinned at her and flashed her a peace sign and a smile. He was African American, with short black hair and a cowlick in the front and an angular face and slim build.

"So uh," Khrys began nervously. Her darting eyes noted how Ezra leaned casually on Kathy's shoulder and how the girl didn't seem to mind. "Are you guys dating?" She asked.

Ezra did a spit take, which was strange as he hadn't been drinking anything and Kathy started to giggle nervously like there was no tomorrow. When she had finally calmed down and whipped the tears off her cheeks she apologized to Khrys.

"I'm sorry." She said. "It's just that-" She bit her lip to try and hide a smile which ended up irking Khrys even more. What was so funny? Kathy turned to look at Ezra who nodded as if to answer a silent question.

Kathy turned back to Khrys. "Okay," She said with another nervous giggle. "It's just that, Ezra's already dating someone."

Khrys glared at her. "I don't see why'd that make you guys react the way you did though." She complained.

Ezra smiled and leaned against the seat. "Well, it's funny 'cause I'm dating her brother."

Khrys stared at him blankly for a few moments. Silence descended upon the trio while she processed the information. The only sound was the moving bus and the kids running around in it rampantly.

"But your a guy." She finally said.

Ezra rolled his eyes at her comment. "I'm gay." He said as though explaining it to a toddler.

Khrys ignored him. "Don't they give you a hard time? The other students I mean." She asked. Kathy giggled _again_ and Khrys wondered if it would be a bad idea to smack her.

"Nah." Ezra said as he picked lint and other random items off his hoodie. "The other students are too scared of the consequences. Once in a while a kid thinks that they can do whatever they want, but then they get caught and they never try again."

"What consequences?"

"No idea." Ezra said with a shrug.

Khrys immediately launched into another question."At my old school, no one cared if you were bullied for being gay. Why do they care here?"

Ezra grinned. "One of the teachers are gay." He told her. "He's _super _scary and anyone who gets on his bad side regrets it real quick." Ezra's eyes lit up with excitement as he continued. "One kid refused to go to his class or go near him 'cause he thought being gay was contagious." Ezra laughed. "He sorted that kid out _real _fast."

Kathy and Khrys stared at the boy with twin looks of open mouthed shock.

"What does my brother see in you?" Kathy asked in bewilderment.

The rest of the bus ride passed fairly quickly with them mainly spending the time chatting about random subjects. Halfway through the bus ride Ezra jumped up and ran towards the front of the bus shouting something in a weird language over and over again until he reached a boy that Khrys assumed to be Kathy's older brother.

Kathy and Khrys (along the rest of the bus) watched in amusement as Ezra forced his boyfriend to stand up so he could dip him and kissed while the entire bus laughed and cheered and whistled.

Ezra dragged his flustered and red faced boyfriend over to the still laughing girls. Khrys tried to stifle her giggles and assume a straight face but failed miserably. And it didn't help that Ezra was holding onto his boyfriend like some damsel in distress in one of those old timely sexist movies.

Eventually Ezra was able to speak. "Okay, Khrys, this is my boyfriend Andre." Andre wave hello to her before giving his sister an awkward 'I'm-standing-your-sitting-the-bus-is-moving-and-my-boyfriend-won't-let-go-of-my-arm hug'.

Khrys watched them, and was surprised by how identical the siblings looked. But as she peered closer she could see some differences. Andre's hair was more orange than blond and his eyes were green, not blue. But he and his sister still shared the same white smile and slim but muscular body build.

Khrys hadn't noticed she had stopped paying attention until Kathy had resumed her task of poking Khrys repeatedly in the shoulder. Khrys slapped her hand away. "What?" She snapped. She expected Kathy to storm off thanks to Khrys' rude tone but Kathy only grinned wider.

"You won't be grumpy no more!" Kathy squealed. "We're here!"

Khrys took that as her cue to immediatly whip around to stare out the window as the bus pulled up. She had been right. They _were _by the beach. The bus rolled over the cobblestone path shaped in a half circle, three more bus's coming in behind it and four more ahead. In the middle of the half circle a sandstone slab with painted words proclaimed to the world how good and fancy the school was.

It was in three different languages. English, which Khrys couldn't read at all thanks to her stupid dyslexia. The second one she could read much to her surprise, and it wasn't even in a language she recognized.

"Olympus high?" She said incredulously. "What kind of school name is that?" Kathy simply rolled her eyes and continued to smile. Khrys squinted at the last few words in the third language as the bus pulled around but she was unable too get a good glimpse before the bus rounded it and came to a stop.

"What language was that in?" She asked as she grabbed her large amount of stuff from under the seat.

"Latin." Was Kathy's answer as she grabbed her own belongings.

"Did it say 'Olympus High' too?"

"Yeah."

"So it's like a wannabe Rosetta stone?"

Kathy gave her a strange look as they slipped into the aisle behind Andre and Ezra but she didn't say anything. Khrys listened in on the two boys conversation (so yeah, she was eavesdropping. So what?) They were talking with excitement about the class's they wanted to have together.

"How can they be excited about school?" Khrys complained. "I mean, sure it's got a cool name but besides that whats so cool abo-" She stopped dead in her tracks. her mouth dropped open in surprise. She had stepped off the bus, turned her head and BOOM! she could suddenly understand -if at least partially- the two male teens excitement.

The school was beautiful. It was white with a bit of gold thrown in here and there and seemed to have been modeled after a Greek temple or something. Shining steps swarming with students led up to a pair of menacing black doors. Besides the doors two pillars held up the overhang, golden ivory carved into it's surface gleamed in the light of the setting sun.

Even the area around it was beautiful. The sky seemed more blue, the clouds more white and fluffy and the grass greener than Khrys had ever seen it thanks to her living in New York.

Kathy stopped next to her and stared as well. Andre and Ezra both grinned at each other before looping their arms around the two stunned girls and began to lead them up the steps to where the mass of teens milled around nervously.

Khrys shook off her shock and was about to ask why no one was going in when a tingling sensation in her spine suddenly rendered her immobile. When the feeling passed she shivered and rubbed at her arms where goosebumps had risen.

"What was that?" She asked meekly.

"The doors." Andre said gravely as he looked at the other kids around them. "Before they can open they must scan the people around them and see if they're worthy enough to pass. If they have evil intentions, the doors can sense that and will remain shut."

Ezra's usually happy face held a deep frown. "The doors guard the school." He continued."They can radiate feelings of sorrow or hatred so strong almost everyone would wet their pants and run away from want of relief from those emotions."

Ezra and Andre shared an unreadable look.

Khrys stared at them in shock. "Wow." She said with a smile. "You really think I'm dumb enough to believe that?" She laughed and her shoulders relaxed. "Sorry guys, but those doors are just doors. Having emotions? That's not scientifically possible." She shook her head slowly.

Kathy glared at the two boys and mouthed '_I told you so' _but Khrys ignored them. Her attention was riveted on the doors that were now slowly and surely opening without a sound to let the throng of students in.

Khrys shivered in anticipation. She hadn't been excited for this school originally. But now? She grabbed her bags, Kathy's arm, and started to pull her towards the opening. Andre and Ezra laughed at her eagerness and brought up the rear.

The four kids pushed through to get a good glimpse of the inside of what would be their school and home. Khrys almost squealed at the beauty of it. Kathy did.

Just like the outside, it seemed to have been modeled with a Greek base. The floor was a silvery gray with those black Greek squares colored black as the pattern.

Pillars lined the walls with a second floor hallway built between them and the wall. This time, _real _ivy wrapped around the pillars. Doors of a dark and shiny oak flashed at them. The ceiling rose in a high arc over them.

In front of them a fountain bubbled with crystalline water in the exact middle of the school. Three separate hallways branched off from the center in the shape of a cross.

Khrys hadn't realized she had stopped once more with her mouth hanging open until Kathy shut it and passed her. Khrys blinked and sprinted after her and the two guys.

"This is amazing." She whispered to Kathy once she had caught up with her. Kathy nodded.

They all headed towards the fountain where the majority of the student body milled around restlessly. The four of them stood on the outskirts of the large group and waited for something to happen.

They didn't have to wait long. Three woman turned from around the west hallway and quickly made their way towards the group assembled.

"New students!" One woman cried in a high and reedy voice. Those closest to her gasped, but Khrys couldn't see."Over here!" The woman stretched stretched a long fingered hand into the air.

"Old students over here!" Another woman cried.

"Leave your bags here!" The last woman bellowed. Khrys hesitated to leave her belongings but Ezra and Andre fallowed the instructions without a seconds hesitation so she did as well before fallowing Kathy and the other new kids.

They headed down the hallway opposite from the entrance. When they reached the end the woman flung open the two wooden doors with gusto. Khrys looked over at Kathy who's eyes were wide with excitement, her fingers clenching and unclenching with anticipation.

Khrys walked in and she felt her excitement fading. It was an auditorium. One like you would find in any school.

The floor slopped downwards to an empty stage. The floor was covered in a plush red carpet and the same material was on the seat cushions. On each side of the door, rows of chairs sat empty.

"To the left is where the newbies go." The woman instructed. Khrys tried again to get a glimpse of her. What had caused to the kids to gasp? But she had disappeared.

Khrys grumbled a few things under her breath before she fallowed Kathy into a row near the back. She glanced at her new friend to see her leaning on the edge of her seat eagerly. Khrys rolled her eyes and leaned back. Maybe she could get some sleep so she wouldn't die from boredom. Stupid ADHD.

She turned her head and opened one eye as the doors opened again and the older students streamed in. Khrys looked for Ezra and Andre but she couldn't find them.

The lights began to dim as the last few kids took their seats. Khrys opened both eyes and sat up straighter. This day had been full of surprises, what was going to surprise them now? The lights on the stage steadily grew brighter, a form began to walk from behind the curtain...

But it was only a woman. A woman who looked like a stern-faced tight-lipped collage professor. Khrys groaned and slumped in her seat. Unless this woman suddenly developed eight legs and glowing red spider eyes, than this was just another 'welcome to our awesome school blah blah blah' speech.

Khrys turned her head to stare at Kathy as she inhaled sharply. Was she as disappointed as she was? No, apparently not. Kathy was looking at the woman in awe and Khrys frowned as her eyes darted to her again. Was this woman a famous or something?

The woman faced her audience silently. Khrys couldn't see the minuscule details on her face, like eye color. She was too high up. But with the way the first few rows were acting, the lady must have been pretty scary. They were flinching.

Her interest peaking, Khrys hummed and leaned forward in her seat. The woman cleared her throat and began to speak.

"I'll make this short." She spoke with a voice that rang out loud and crisp despite the woman having no microphone. (At least that Khrys could see)

"The reason you are here is because you are special." A few kids began to mutter to each other. "No," The woman interrupted. "Not that kind of special, though your ADHD and Dyslexia is a part of it." The woman smiled and Khrys leaned back. She didn't like that smile.\

"You children are special because of your heritage. You are all special because you are all part God. Greek and Roman God, to be exact."

Silence met her words for a few heartbeats before the new kids burst out laughing. Khrys was among them and she could feel Kathy glaring at her.

A kid behind them climbed onto his seat and cupped his hand over his mouth. "Prove it!" He shouted.

The woman turned her head to face him before nodding once. Everyone went quiet immediately as hey waited for the proof. But nothing happened except the woman speaking a single name.

"Perseus."

Several girls from the older students section on the right squealed to each other at the name but Khrys frowned. That was an ancient Greek hero right?Her musings were interrupted when a resounding gasp filled the large room and she looked around wildly for the cause before her eyes landed on...a raven.

It was circling above the stage constantly. As they all watched the raven began to fade into gray smoke where it clumped together on the wooden surface before it turned into the form of a teenager.

Khrys found herself unable to look away. She was pinned to her seat in surprise as the smoke solidified into a person.

He was tall and muscular but not in a body builder kind of way. His hair was a messy raven black. He wore sunglasses so she couldn't see his eyes but Khrys could see he was tan. He wore jeans and sneakers and a gray long sleeved shirt. He didn't look special, but he had just been a _bird _for Gods sake!

"Can gods do that?" She whispered to Kathy. "Change shape I mean." Kathy grinned at her and nodded before putting a finger to her lips and pointing towards the stage. The teen -Perseus- Khrys remembered, looked like he was about to speak.

He did.

"Once upon a time, I was a demigod like you." His voice was cold and as emotionless as a rock. Khrys shivered at his tone and hugged herself tight. "I believed that the gods were good. I went on quests for them, fought in their name, saved them time and time again from destruction."

"But I was wrong. The gods are not good. They are not beings one should fight for. Because no matter what you do, or who you are, if the gods feel threatened by you they will hurt you. They will kill you, banish you, hurt you, curse you to eternal damnation in that pit known as Tartarus!"

Everyone in the room flinched at the bitterness of his words.

He took a deep breath before continuing more calmly.

"Most of the Greek gods are conceited and arrogant. They need to be brought down, and that's where all of you come in. You have been enrolled here because you have something special to give to our cause, our army." He looked at them all with a frown on his lips. "I know you will not disappoint."

Khrys bit her lip. This was a lot to take in. Suddenly she's half god, and she's got some special gift to give to some crazy dudes army? She was beginning to wonder if she had fallen asleep on the bus and this was all a crazy dream concocted from her imagination and nervousness of a new school.

Anxiously, she waited for Perseus to say more but he was gone and in his place was the woman again. She held a long list that trailed on the ground and she was reading off of it. "Amit, Henry." She called out. "Son of Hermes." The older students clapped and cheered as the kid behind Kathy and Khrys stood. He had been the one to demand proof of the crazy claims that had been thrust at them and he looked clammy and nervous as he made his way to the stage to shake hands with the woman. She gave him a packet of paper and then he was led away.

"Acry, Zoe. Daughter of Demeter."

"Azen, Taylor. Son of Mars."

The list went on an on until Kathy's name was called.

"Gemsten, Kathy. Daughter of Apollo."

Kathy grinned and simply bolted from her seat and down the aisle, up the stage and to the woman. She took her packet, waved to her brother before skipping off.

Now alone, Khrys slumped in her seat. She would never admit it but she was scared. Her heart was racing and her hands were clammy with sweat. Who was her godly parent? It was a dude, since she lived with her mom. Would it be Apollo like Kathy? She racked her brain to see how many Greek gods she knew but she was sadly lacking.

"Westen, Khrys. Daughter of Dionysus."

Khrys bolted upright. Was it her turn already? A bead of sweat made it's way down her forehead and she got to her feet. So, her father was Dionysus? What was he the god of? She made her way up the stage steps and walked over to the lady.

She did look a lot like a professor. Jeans, blouse, black hair in a bun. Yeah, definitely a professor.

Khrys tried to meet the womans eyes, but her piercing gray gaze made her avert her eyes. She wiped her hands on her jeans, shook her hand, and took the packet. She nearly bolted off the stage and towards Kathy who was jumping up and down next to Andre and Ezra.

As soon as she saw Kathy she ran over and squeezed her into a hug. "Congrats!" She squealed in her ear. Khrys winced before nodding. "Um, yeah. Congrats to you too."

Ezra smiled and clapped her on the shoulder."Come on, we'll show you the dorms." He grinned and the four of them walked out of the auditorium, the sounds of clapping and cheering still echoing behind them even after they shut the doors.

A few kids were around, mainly older ones helping the new kids understand the stuff in the packets they had been given. Khrys could feel hers trembling in her hand but she didn't want to look at it.

She numbly fallowed Ezra around the corner to the east wing. Andre and Kathy were talking about the half siblings they had.

_Half siblings..._ Kathy winced. And to think she hadn't been nervous enough. Now she had to worry about having brothers and sisters. They'd probably be older than her too. Oh joy.

"Hey, you okay?"

Khrys blinked. They had stopped at the base of a staircase and Ezra had been talking. She blushed and looked down. "I'm fine." She lied. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

Ezra looked at her doubtfully before repeating what he had said earlier. "The dorms are in Alphabetical order so I'm towards the end and Kathy and Andre are near the beginning." He pointed up the stairs. "You three are that way." He pointed towards the end on the first floor."I'm that way."

"Who's your parent?" Kathy asked.

"Venus."

Khrys stared at him in confusion. "Who?"

Ezra rolled his eyes. "My moms the roman goddess Venus. She's Aphorodite in Greece but-" Khrys held up her hand to stop him.

"No." She said firmly. "My brain cannot take anymore. Shut up." Ezra grinned but nodded anyway. He kissed Andre on the cheek before waving good-bye to them as he made his way to his dorm.

Andre led Khrys up the stairs and to her dorm before he and Kathy bid her good-night to which she managed a tired wave. She was too emotionally exhausted right now to even look around the room. She simply found her bed, and climbed in clothes and all.

She was asleep before she hit the pillow.

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><p><strong> And that introduces the kind sorta main character. I guess. Gods this took longer than I thought it would, but I hope you guys enjoyed.<br>**

**R&R!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone! Guess what? I'm alive! And I did ****_not _****abandon this story, instead I have been busy battling the cursed demon known as writers block. I've also been trying to make my chapters long. Like, at least 3-4,000 words long so that's another hurdle I've been working on clearing. **

**PercyJFanForever~ Thank you, it means so much to hear that. :D **

**DarkMando~ HI! *waves* did you miss me? XD Don't answer that.**

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><p><strong>It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together, as it does to fall apart.<strong>

**~ Finick Odair : The Mockingjay Part One ~**

Khrys started her first day of school and life as a demigod, by getting pushed out of bed.

She fell on the hard floor and the impact instantly jolted her into consciousness. She groaned as she lifted her head and pushed herself to her knees. She looked around with bleary eyes to see who had so rudely woken her up.

Her eyes rested on an amused looking boy about a year older than her. "'Bout time." He laughed. "We've been waiting for forever for you to wake up."

Khrys glared at him disdainfully as she got to her feet and brushed the dust off her pants. "What are you doing in here?" She snapped at him and his smile faded into a frown.

"I'm a son of Dionysus." He said shortly. Khrys' cheeks flushed in embarrassment. Of course he'd be in here then.

"Sorry." She mumbled and looked down at her shoes. Her new found half-brother shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets. "You might want to hurry up and get changed." He told her. "Breakfasts in five." He walked past her bunk and carefully clambered over her pile of unpacked belongings. He pushed aside a purple curtain Khrys hadn't noticed the day before and disappeared behind it.

Khrys looked around and examined the room she had been too tired to really see the night before.

The floor was a dark mahogany wood and so was the bunk beds. The three sets of bunks had leopard print pillows and comforters followed with real life grape vines abundant in grapes wrapped around the corner posts. More vines hung from wooden beams pushed against the ceiling. Some hang low enough that she could reach up a hand and pluck a dark purple grape off. She did, and rolled the plump purple object between her thumb and forefinger before she popped it into her mouth. She bit into it and felt the sweet insides burst and coat her tongue as she peered into the back of the room. A lone door marked 'bathroom' stood temptingly against the wall and she made a mental note to take a shower when she got the chance.

She continued to chew as she started shoving through her bags to find some clothes that didn't stink of sweat. Holding up the requisite garments, she started getting dressed. She hurried as she recalled the time her brother had said they had before breakfast. She put on a pair of bleached jeans with a black tank top covered by a plaid flannel sweater. She laced up her converse and stood up again. She passed her luggage a furtive glance before making her way towards the front of the room.

Upon reaching it she saw two boys talking and leaning casually against the wall. She waited quietly off to the side and rocked back and forth on her feet as she waited for a break in the conversation. When they continued to talk and it became apparent they weren't going to stop she cleared her throat loudly to get their attention.

It was freaky how they both turned their heads in perfect unison but Khrys ignored that. "Um..hi." She said finally. "Sorry to interrupt but I thought we only had five minuets so..." Her sentence trailed off as she waited for an answer. The boy who had pushed her out of bed ducked his head as his cheeks flushed, and the other boy cast him a glare.

"Liam." He said slowly. "Did you forget to switch watch's _again_?"

The boy now dubbed Liam turned an even deeper shade of red and hid his left arm behind his back. "Maybe." He mumbled in embarrassment. The other teen sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose as though he had a head ache.

"Wait, what does that mean?" Khrys demanded.

"It means." The teen began. "That this idiot," He shoved Liam who grumbled and punched him in the arm half halfheartedly. "Woke us up around forty minuets earlier than we needed to be."

Khrys looked between the two of them wordlessly for a few seconds, her head whipping back an forth before she turned on her heel and stormed towards her bunk. "Where are you going?" Liam called after her quickly retreating back.

"To take a shower!" She shouted over her shoulder. She snatched up her bag of toiletries and made her way to the door in the back.

"We only have five minuets!" Liam called after her before he was promptly punched in the shoulder by the other boy. "Ow! Marcus!" Liam whined as he rubbed his presumably sore arm. Marcus glared at him.

"We have _at least _thirty five minutes!"

"Wheres the fun in telling her that? Ow!"

"Your so immature!"

"Ha!Your one to talk!"

Khrys inwardly groaned as she slipped into the bathroom and quietly shut the door behind her. She made her way into one of the pristine white showers and turned the water on high just as her brothers began to shout some very rude things to each other. She rested her head against the cool white walls and sighed.

~(._.)~

Khrys walked out of the bathroom and rubbed her hair with a towel in an attempt to dry it off before she ditched the thing totally and tossed the towel on her bunk.

She found Marcus and Liam once again talking companionably near the door as though nothing had happened. She took that time to examine her two brothers and came up with a very important question that she asked as soon as she was within ear shot.

"Are you sure we're related?"

Once again the two boys turned and stared at her in freaky unison only to be broken with Liam's very intelligent answer of "Um..."

Marcus rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we're sure we're all related. Why do you ask?"

Khrys shrugged and gestured to them vaguely. "It's just...none of us look anything alike."

It was true. Marcus was obviously the oldest and towered over them at 6'3. He had shoulder length black hair and black eyes and pale skin and could have passed off as a vampire in Khrys's opinion. Liam was only 5'9 with curly red hair and bright green eyes. His peachy skin could easily seem tan from a distance only because every inch of his skin was covered in freckles. They didn't look anything alike, and defiantly didn't look anything like her with her golden brown hair and dark brown eyes. She wasn't even as tall as them, standing at the height of 5'5.

"True." Marcus said slowly. "But the only way we could look alike is if we all shared some of our father's characteristics. And the problem with that is, gods don't really have DNA to pass on to their kids so demigods most often look like their mortal parents."

Liam snorted and raised his hand. "Actually teacher," He said in an annoying nasally voice. "Many demigods are most often known for looking like their godly parent. Just take the Athena kids for example." Marcus sighed and rolled his eyes.

"They only share eye color." He informed Khrys who nodded slowly. She was about to ask another question when her attention was drawn to Liam, who was tapping his foot and looking at the door with a pained look on his face.

"What's wrong?" She asked. "Do you have to go to the bathroom or something?" Liam shook his head and moaned pitifully.

"Food...!"

She looked at Marcus and he just shrugged and rubbed his nose.

They waited in silence for some sign that they could leave to go eat and their wish was finally granted when a young girls voice suddenly began to echo in the room. "Demigods, you may now begin to make your way to breakfast. Have a great first day!"

Liam bolted out the door the instant her voice came on and he was down the stairs and out of sight before Khrys even took a step.

She and Marcus both walked out side by side but split up almost immediately when he made his way towards a group of what could only be assumed were his friends. There were hundreds of students flocking the hall and streaming down the stairs towards cafeteria at the end of the hall. She followed the swarm of kids down the stairs but stopped when she reached the base of the stairs. She pushed her way towards a clear spot and stood there to wait for Kathy.

Kathy seemed to be looking for her too and soon caught sight of her by the stairs. She grinned broadly and began to push her way towards her. Khrys began to wade through the swarm of kids and they met halfway. As she got closer it became very clear to Khrys that something was wrong. What on earth was wrong with Kathy? Surely no one could smile that wide.

"My siblings are amazing!" Kathy squealed as soon as Khrys reached her. "They like the same things as me, and they're really nice and everyone's happy and they all love it here and they told me all these amazing things and this is perfect!" She gushed. Khrys rolled her eyes but didn't say anything to pop Kathy's bubble as they walked near the back of the crowd.

"How many siblings do you have?" Khrys asked her.

"Twelve!"

Khrys blinked and pulled a face. "Seriously?" Kathy nodded vigorously.

"There's five girls including me and seven boys." She pointed ahead at another gingery blond girl. "That's Mia. She's been coming here since she was fourteen and the school first opened." Mia turned at the sound of her name though how she heard it over the screeching of everyone else left Khrys baffled. She smiled and waved at her half sister before she turned to face forward again and Khrys frowned in puzzlement.

"I thought you said Mia came when she was fourteen." Khrys said slowly. Kathy blinked in bewilderment.

"Yeah, she has."

"And this school first opened three years ago, right?"

"Yes. What's your point?"

"Kathy," Khrys groaned. "Can't you see it? Mia doesn't look a day over fifteen. Either she ages really well or somethings not right here."

Kathy shook her head wildly. "No. No, she's seventeen. She has to be." But Khrys wasn't listening. She was already onto something else.

"And she was fourteen when she first started. But I'm not fourteen and this is my first year."

Kathy groaned and held her head in her hands. "Stop!" She whined. "Your making my brain hurt." Khrys shook her head as they both walked into the spacious cafeteria.

" We should talk to your brother. Maybe he knows what's going on." She said as she looked around to familiarize herself with her new surroundings.

It looked like any normal school cafeteria. There were several circular tables of varying sizes all built out of stone. They seemed to have risen straight out of the floor with how seamlessly the bases connected to the floor. The same went with the rows of benches around each table. And instead of a line where lunch ladies handed out food, rows of rectangular tables had been pushed against the wall opposite the entrance and had been filled with delicious smelling foods.

Khrys' mouth watered at the smell and based of Kathy's face, she was just as entranced by the fumes as the daughter of Dionysus. Khrys opened her mouth to ask if she wanted to go eat and stop staring at the food when she caught sight of a familiar couple. Ezra and Andre made their way over to the two girls and Andre put a finger to his lips as he snuck up behind his still food ensnared sister.

He let go of his boyfriends hand and Khrys watched in amusement as he poised for the kill before he jabbed his two pointer fingers into his sisters side. Kathy burst out of her daze with a shriek and lept into the air. A few kids turned to see what the noise had been about but then they just turned back to their food.

"Andre!" Kathy screeched as she smoothed out her blue blouse and black skirt. "How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?" But the smile on her face ruined her attempts at being stern and she finally gave up all together and giggled along with the rest of them.

Khrys finished laughing and waited patiently as Andre placed a kiss on his sisters forehead and laced his fingers through Ezras. "Hey Khrys." He said coolly as she started tugging on Kathy towards the buffet line.

"Hi Andre." She said as Kathy finally got the hint and started walking on her own two legs. The boys fallowed after them and they got into line. "So, I had a question." She began. Andre raised his eyebrows and smirked.

"Okay, what is it?"

"Well.." She began slowly. "We just happened to notice that um...one of your sisters...Mia right? Well, we noticed that she uh..." She was stuttering and she clamped her mouth shut. She took a deep breath and attempted to begin again but Andre held up his free hand to stop her.

"Your wondering why she doesn't look like a seventeen year old, aren't you?" He asked with an understanding smile.

Kathy and Khrys both nodded eagerly and Ezra and Andre laughed.

"Can we get our food first?" Ezra asked as he grabbed a plate. Khrys sighed. She'd rather get answers now, but her stomach was growling loudly and the food smelled so good...

"Sure." She said and grabbed a plate as well before heaping on french toast and fruit salad.

They all made sure to fill their plates with as much as they could eat and began to weave their way towards one of the smaller tables in the back. They all sat down and began to eat. The food was so good that Khrys completely forgot about her questions until Mia actually came by to ask Andre a question.

After the girl had left Khrys brushed her mouth with her sleeve and swallowed the food that currently occupied her mouth. "So," She began and everyone's eyes darted up from their food to look at her. "How come Mia looks so much younger than she is?" Andre straightened up and pointed his fork at her.

"Well," He said through a mouthful of food, "At this school we have a lot more subjects to learn than other schools. Not only do we have to learn about math and science, but we also have to learn about our heritage and how to defend ourselves." He swallowed but immediately took another huge bite of food. Kathy rolled her eyes at Khrys at her brothers manners while she herself took small bites.

"So, they could have shortened class time but I guess Lady Athena wasn't having it. She managed to convince them that instead of shortening time, they should extend it." His eyes twinkled at his own words. Khrys mulled over what he had said for a second before it finally clicked.

"Oh!" She said with excitement. "You mean, they made time last longer?" She asked. Ezra nodded and clapped.  
>Kathy frowned.<p>

"That doesn't explain how Mia and everyone else looks so young." She complained.

Andre rolled his eyes. "Time inside of this building runs so much slower than outside of it, that two days in the mortal world is only one day in here. This affects our bodies as they alter themselves to age slower as well. So three years outside, would only be one and a half years here."

Khrys nodded slowly as realization dawned on her. "So everyone would only age a year and a half. That makes so much sense!" She grinned widely at this new revelation. "But I still have another question. Why is it that not everyone starts coming to this school at the same age? I'm fifteen but Mia came when she was fourteen."

Andre shrugged and pushed his now empty plate away from him. "Well," He began. "It takes a while before a demigod is recognized as one. Some demigods can go years out in the mortal world without anyone, even themselves, knowing they're half god." He held up his hand to stop Khrys from interrupting him. "No, I don't know how. All I know is that once a demigod is recognized, they're brought here."

Khry frowned. "Well...okay. That doesn't really answer my question that well but... I guess it does. Thanks." Andre grinned and pretended to sweep off an imaginary hat.

"No problem. Now, let's see what both of your schedules are."

Kathy's face lit up and she removed the packet she had gotten yesterday from her pocket. Khrys slowly began to frown. "Um...those were important?" She said meekly and everyone stared at her.

"You didn't destroy yours did you?" Ezra asked quickly and she shook her head.

"No! I just left mine in my dorm..." Ezra was out of his seat and around the table in a second.

"Well go get it!" He said and began to pull her out of her seat. She was so surprised the son of Venus actually managed to get her out of her seat before her brain realized she needed to move. She scrambled up and out of his grasp and bolted to the doors.

"Be right back!" She called over her shoulder before she vaulted out the door and down the hall towards the stairs. She bounded up the steps two at a time before she raced over to her door. She thrust it open and scrambled towards her bunk. She shifted all her stuff aside hastily in search of where she had tossed the seemingly unimportant object. She sagged in sudden relief as she pushed aside her messenger bag to find it at the bottom of the pile, slightly crinkled but none the worse for wear.

She held it up triumphantly and held it to her chest as she got to her feet. She turned and fell face down on the floor. She groaned and sat up to find that the bag she had so hastily tossed aside had been the object to trip her. She pursed her lips and considered the affect of kicking it when she realized that was her school bag with all her pencil and notebooks.

Thanking god-er, thanking the gods that she hadn't left without it she stood and slung it over her shoulder while slipping her packet inside of it. Taking a deep breath, she once again raced out and down the stairs towards her fellow demigods.

She ended up walking towards the table in the back, her legs feeling like jelly as she sat down with great relief on the stone bench. Kathy looked at her sympathetically and gave her a glass or orange juice which Khrys downed in a gulp.

"Um, do you want a second or can we compare schedules now?" Andre asked. Khrys glared at him but removed the packet from her bag and passed it over anyways. It slid across the table and he picked it up and Andre opened the packet. Khrys watched as he shuffled through the papers inside only to pick out one in particular. He took it out and opened it up, pressing it flat against the table top.

He picked up another piece of paper and his eyes ran over the words.

"Well?"Khrys asked impatiently and his eyes glanced upwards.

"Well, the good news is that you and Kathy have several class's together." He said cheerily. "The bad news is, you have all your mortal class's first." Khrys rolled her eyes and leaned across the table to take her stuff back.

"How can you even read this? It's in English so-" She glanced down and clamped her teeth shut against a scream of frustration. She opened her mouth a tiny bit and muttered 'oh'.

Her schedule was in Greek, that's how Andre managed to read it so easily. She flushed in embarrassment and ducked her head. "Sorry." She whispered to Andre who only shrugged and smiled like he didn't mind.

"Demigods it is time to go to your first period class."

The same voice that announced they could go to breakfast pierced the noise of teenage chatter and cut through like a knife. Kids began to push back from their seats and shuffle towards the entrance to get to class with Andre, Ezra, Kathy and Khrys in the middle.

"Sorry guys, but Ezra and I gotta go. Our class's are way in the front. We'll see you at lunch." Andre gave his sister a hug and then the two boys darted off, pushing between other kids to get ahead. Kathy and Khrys shared a look before Khrys remembered she didn't know what class she had.

**1st Period  
><strong>**Math : Lady Athena : Room 2C  
><strong>

Kathy groaned as she pocketed the sheet of paper. "I hate math." She informed Kathy who nodded along with her, her lips pursed like she had swallowed a lemon.

All the kids seemed to be heading past the fountain Khrys had seen the day before and towards the front of the school. She looked around and watched as the kids either climbed stairs or went underneath the second story hallway to get to the class's, each dark wooden door opening and closing every few seconds as kids read the golden engraved numbers and letters on the shiny surfaces.

As Khrys looked around she noticed that all the doors on the ground floor were labeled 1A or 1D, there were no 2's anywhere. She looked up but couldn't get a good look at the door number through the crowd of kids up top. She turned to Kathy and tapped her shoulder.

"I think our class is up there." She said and pointed at the second floor. Kathy looked where she was pointing and nodded. She grabbed her bag and Khrys grabbed hers and they both ran through the quickly thinning crowds to the stairs that led up top. Once again bounding up two at a time she reached the top and looked both ways to see which direction she should go in. Kathy grabbed her hand and began tugging her to the left and she followed without question.

They reached the correct door just as the voice from before announced that "All demigods should be in their respective class rooms at this time."

Kahty and Khrys slipped inside the room and quietly slunk towards the only two seats left which happened to be in the front. A blackboard spanned the front of the room with a desk for the teacher in front of it. There were three rows of four tables with two chairs behind each for partners. As Khrys looked around she noted the large span of bookshelves that filled the other walls of the room. Each shelf was laden and overflowing with books.

_So it's gonna be one of _those_ class's._ She thought unhappily as she slid into her seat next to Kathy just as the door opened. Everyones head turned to see who this 'Lady Athena' was and Khrys was partially unsurprised to see the black haired professor like woman from before.

She strode to the front of the classroom and turned on her heel to eye all twenty-four students with a calculating gaze. The room was like a tomb. Silent.

"I am Lady Athena." She spoke up finally as her eyes raked over them."Any questions not related to Math will be answered here and at this point. Now, any questions?"

Three kids raised their hands and she nodded her head at a teenage boy in the front. "Name?" She asked and he leaned back and blinked.

"Um...Tanner Bloston, son of Hermes. I was wondering, how come you don't have blond hair like your kids? You have gray eyes like them."

A few kids around the room turned and glared at him and he must have felt the stares in the back of his head because he shrunk in his seat.

Athena's gaze was just as cold. "A common misconception." She snapped and turned to another demigod. This time a girl with black hair and blue eyes.

"Macey Davis, daughter of Iris. I was wondering what your doing here. Lord Perseus said that all gods were conceited and selfish and we were going o be fighting them."

Athena nodded her head at the Macey. "A very fine question," Macey beamed at her words. "I am here because unlike the other gods, I knew somethings about Perseus. That's is all I am allowed to say on the matter. Your next." She said and pointed to the last kid who had raised his hand.

"Danny Roberts, Son of Mars. On my schedule I have you listed for several other class's but in different rooms. How's that possible?"

Once again Athena nodded her head at the question."Another excellent question." She said and began to pace in front of her desk. "A gods presence is invoked whenever their nature is most strong. As a place of extreme learning, my presence was invoked here tenfold."

She stopped and stared at a kid in the back who had raised their hand after she had spoken. Khrys craned her neck but couldn't hear nor see the person speaking but whatever had been said made Athena bristle.

"That is not true and I will not have any of my students thinking such nonsense!" She pursed her lips till they were a white line. "Who here knows the definition of wisdom?"

The room was dead quiet until Kathy raised a trembling hand and began to speak. "Um...wisdom is the ability to think and act using knowledge, understanding, common sense, insight and experience in an event." Athena nodded once and spun around her desk.

"Extremely true and I will say this once and only once. I am _not _the goddess of _knowing stuff. _Now, who here knows what a polynomial is?"

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><p><em> Far off on Mount Olympus and in a dark and secret shrine, three old women worked around a fire that illuminated their hunched over bodies and brought light to their old wise eyes and gave guidance to their gray hands. The fire that flickered behind the shut door cast dancing images against the rows of blankets and socks and needles and yarn that were crammed in every space available.<br>_

_The sound of clicking needles and the snippet of scissors were the only sound for a while until all was silent. One of the hunched forms got up and brought her way over to a chest. She unlocked it and brought out an object that she held close to her chest as she came back to the fire. The sound of scissors and needles once again came to echo in the air until voices raspy and dry came to join in._

_"Such a beautiful color." Said one in a dry and raspy voice.  
><em>

_"Such a beautiful heart." Whispered a second._

_"Such a beautiful man." Said the third._

_"Such a horrid fate." They said together. _

_One of them held out a thread sea green and stormy gray in color. Another reached out with a trembling hand and quickly cut the thread with her old rusty scissors._

_"It has been done." She hissed. The third sister took the thread and began to weave it into her work._

_"He is the most beautiful tapestry." They sighed._

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><p><strong> Hi! So, I hope you don't hate me too much for that...<br>**

**One last thing. Guys? Guys I'm not kidding. Nearly a 5,000 word chapter. Guys I want some reviews for this. Guys.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! I'm back! And I have a question. Do you want me to try and redo chapter one? Because It is be _far _the shortest chapter in this story right now. Not even kidding. It's only 1,000+ words long. That's 3,000+ less than the current chapters!  
><strong>

**Dogbiscuit1967: Of course you guys will find out! :D Just...not right now. And, maybe not for the next few chapters...**

**DarkMando: Thank yew! Thank yew! I try! :3**

**Phoenix Crest: At first I didn't understand. And then I went back to read what I wrote and I was all like 'oh...you're right'.**

**Terra Bird: I like the way you think! Those are great questions that I will soon answer! Um...maybe not soon...**

**IMPORTANT!**

** The character 'Mercy Lafayette' is not mine and belongs to ~~Imperfection~~. Thank you for letting me use your character!**

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><p><em><strong>Only silence as it's ending<strong>_

_**Like we never had a chance**_

_**Do you have to make me feel like**_

_**There's nothing left of me?**_

_**~ Demi Lavato : Skyscraper ~**_

Khrys tried to block out the sound of the cafeteria as she focused on the paper in front of her. It was, however, becoming increasingly difficult as the once quiet room began to swell with noise.

Angrily she tossed down her pencil for something more favorable. She snatched a french frie from her plate and furiously 'dabbed' it in her ketchup. Once satisfied it was fully covered she ate it and whipped her hand on her red stained napkin. Beside her, Kathy groaned and held her head in her hands.

"I wish it was in English." She complained. " That way, I could use the excuse of not being able to read it to hand it in incomplete." She picked up the sheet of paper in disgust and shoved it in her bag.

Khrys sighed and nodded in agreement. "You, me, and everyone else in this school." She said dryly. She picked up her pencil and tackled the problem once again. She read the Greek words for what felt like the one hundredth time.

_The age of the youngest of three sisters is seven less than twice the age of the middle sister. The oldest sister is eleven years older than twice the age of the youngest sister. If the sum of their ages is more than twenty, what are the lowest possible ages of the sisters?_

Khrys shoved the paper in her bag. "Nope." She said with false cheerfullness." Nope, nope, nope."

Across from the two girls, Andre and Ezra slid into the empty seats. "Homework?" Ezra asked: observing their flushed cheeks and the broken pencils that littered the stone table top. Khrys only grunted and chugged her apple juice.

"It doesn't make sense." Kathy whined.

Andre sighed and started cutting up his hotdog. "You guys are probably over thinking the problem." He advised. Both the girls glared at him and he held up his hands defensively. "And maybe it's hard." He added. "Please don't kill me."

Khrys and Kathy smiled. "I make no promises." Kathy whispered to Khrys as the daughter of Dionysus poked at her hamburger.

"This school is weird." She said with out thinking as she pushed the meaty sandwich aside.

"What clued you in?" Ezra asked and rolled his eyes. Khrys glared at him but didn't say anything since her moth was now full of green beans.

They ate in companionable silence until Kathy spoke up. "I have a question." Ezra groaned as her words registered and Andre began to smack his head on the rim of the stone table. Khrys narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. Kathy just stared ahead and chewed her peaches like a cow chewing her cud as they both waited for the two older boys to stop.

"I don't understand." Khrys said. "Everyone asks questions. But no one acts like that when they have to answer." She glared at Andre as he lifted his head and stopped trying to bruise his forehead.

"Yeah, but you ask so many!" He complained and Andre threw his hands in the air. "And they're not even yes or no questions! I actually have to _think _about the answer." Khrys was fully prepared and ready to tell him that was how it was _supposed _to go but Kathy spoke up before she could open her mouth.

"You do ask questions a lot, Khrys." She said as she looked down at her plate. "Lady Athena even asked if she was an unknown daughter." She informed Andre and Ezra and Khrys could feel her cheeks warming up. "Y'know,'' Kathy continued. "Cause her kids are always looking for knowledge and stuff?"

Khrys smiled. "Oh yeah? Well, what about those kids who came up to you asking relationship advice because they thought you were a daughter of Aphrodite?" Kathy froze from where she had been picking eraser shavings off her skirt.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She mumbled though she was smiling.

"Oh come on Kathy!" Ezra butted in. "Look at you! Your wearing a skirt and blouse! Your hairs been done in ringlets! Your wearing heels and you've got make up on! You look beautiful! Of course they're gonna think your a daughter of Aphrodite."

Kathy smiled and flicked a broken pencil tip at him. Her cheeks were tomato red when she spoke. "Shut up you two." She said with a laugh.

"Yeah!" Andre interrupted. "'Cause I'm starting to think you guys are trying to steal my boyfriend!" He wrapped an arm around Ezra and glared at Kathy and Khrys jokingly.

Kathy stared at him in shock. "We haven't done anything to make that accusation even slightly valid!"

It looked like things were about to escalate into an all out verbal war complete with flying food, but their little squabble was interrupted.

"Students, please head towards your next period class's." Came the sweet voice that had been ushering them on all day. With regret, the four of them left the table and split in half. They boys once again had to head towards the very front of the school for class.

As she and Kathy walked towards the door Khrys fished her schedule out of her bulging bag. Upon finding it, her eyes skimmed over it to find her next lesson.

**Self Defense  
>Lord Frank : Gym<strong>

Khrys frowned. "Well, the gyms right next to the cafeteria. I saw it on the way in. Honestly though? I thought a god would have a more fearsome name than 'Frank'." She glanced over and Kathy and blinked in surprise. "Whats up with you?"

Kathy's bright blue eyes were wide with panic and her rosy cheeks had gone pale. "I-I heard," She stammered. "Well, I've heard that Lord Frank is a total animal." Khrys rolled her eyes as she and Kathy headed towards the gym door, but she didn't comment at her friends words. The two demigods headed into the gym, and Khrys turned to Kathy almost immediately.

"Maybe you shouldn't have worn a skirt."

Kathy sighed and nodded as she turned to hang her bookbag on one of the many hooks that had been hammered into the wall. Khrys fallowed suit and hung her messenger bag up, after placing her schedule back in the bulging sack. After doing so, and satisfied that her belongings would tear down the wall, Khrys shoved her hands in her pockets and turned to look around.

It certainly wasn't a very normal gym. It still had the high ceilings, bright lights and wooden floors that many school gyms had, but that's where the similarities ended.

Dozens of cloth dummies had been lined/stacked against the wall to the left of the gym. Across the floor from them was a rock slab seeming to have come straight from the face of a mountain with handholds having been chiseled into it's surface. Long lengths of rope hung from the ceiling. Some were even swaying, hinting that they had been climbed the previous class.

Mats covered in dusty footprints and straw where dummies had met their ends, were strewn randomly around the room along with broken pieces of what Khrys came to identify as wooden swords.

Khrys, Kathy and the rest of the class warily headed farther into the gym to look around even more. The sound of a door opening and closing once more demanded Khrys' attention and she turned to look at who had come in late. She caught sight of a woman tugging something large through the doors. With her curiosity peaked, Khrys took a few hesitant steps forward to watch.

Finally, what the woman was tugging came through and she gave it a fierce kick with rattled the objects lined on it's exterior surface, before she started pulling it behind her towards the kids still clumped together.

The woman was pretty, but had a dangerous look to her. She was shorter than Khrys who was 5'5, but her aura of dangerous power made her seem much larger. She had an hourglass figure, but her body was well muscled though not in a body builder way. She had dark brown curly hair pulled into a high ponytail to keep it somewhat out of her face and with her white tank top and silvery camouflage cargo pants, Khrys found herself wondering if the woman was from the Military or something like that. As she drew closer Khrys had to bite back a gasp of surprise.

The woman was _glowing. _Not brightly, but a faint silver glow bounced off of her peachy skin to give her an almost ethereal look. Khrys quickly stepped back and elbowed Kathy in the side to get her attention.

Kathy turned. "Ow." She complained. "What'd you do that for?" Khrys pointed to the woman who had her back to them, and Kathy's eyes looked where she was indicating. "Oh." She said. "Cool."

A few kids noticed the woman as well and the whispers filled Khrys' ears as their attention was drawn to the figure.

When the woman turned, she didn't seem at all surprised though Khrys thought she saw nervousness flash in her eyes for a second. But then she set her jaw, crossed her arms over her chest and her eyes hardened. Khrys figured she'd probably imagined it.

"Alright!" The woman called. "My names Mercy, and I will be your substitute for today." Out of the corner of her eye, Khrys saw a few goods frown in disappointment.

"That sucks. I don't want to be taught by a _girl."_

Big mistake.

Apparently Mercy had very good ears, and she heard what the boy a few kids behind Khrys had said. Mercy whipped her head around and seemed to glare a hole straight through the kids to the teen who had spoken.

"Come here." She said with a deadly calm voice. Cockily, the boy strutted down through the group to meet the teacher. The gym was so quiet, Khrys could hear the squeak of the chain links that held the swinging ropes to the ceiling.

"First lesson in Defense." Mercy said. "Is to never, _ever,_ underestimate your opponent. I don't care how good you are, or how important you think you may be, there will always be someone out there who is better than you." Quick as a flash, Mercy punched the teen in the gut. His feet lifted off the ground as he flew a few feet back and landed with a loud _whump_ on one of the mats which skidded a good few feet before everything was still again.

One girl started clapping, then another girl and another. Kathy started clapping enthusiastically and even some boys joined in. A few kids rushed over to the kid to see if he was all right. He had a purple face, probably because he'd had the wind knocked out of him, but otherwise he was fine.

Mercy's face remained impassive as she waited for everyone to settle down again.

Once everyone had their attention riveted back on her, she turned to the rack of wooden swords. She lifted one up and held it at her side. "In Defense we teach you how to protect yourself in a fight, such as disarming your opponent. You don't get to Offense until your second year here. The first thing we're going to be doing is getting the feel of the swords." She took a few large steps away from the rack. "Come and get one."

There was a general stampeded as kids flocked to get the wooden weapons. Khrys waited at the edge for the majority to leave and made her way over when the crowd began to thin out. She ducked underneath one kids wild swing and then stood in front of the rack.

Only a few swords were left but she didn't care. She picked up a dark sword about two and a half feet in length and frowned. The hilt was too heavy, and the blade was too light. It felt almost insubstantial as she swung it through the air. Khrys wanted to get a new one, but Mercy was already calling them over to a mat for a demonstration.

Still upset, Khrys made her way over. She slipped between a few kids to make her way to the front to watch.

Mercy was on the mat with another teen girl who was looking nervous at the prospect of facing Mercy.

"We're going to be learning simple defenses today. Parrys, if you feel like getting technical." She turned to face the girl across from her. "Come at me slowly, aim wherever you please." The girl nodded and screwed her eyes shut in concentration before she made a slow motion lunge. A few kids snickered.

Mercy simply held up her sword, the flat of the blade stopped the attack.

"See how I keep my body tense, ready for an attack at all times?" Mercy informed them. "And see how I keep both hands on the hilt and my elbows remain slightly bent?" She asked. "This helps keep the sword in place and absorb the shock."

She turned back to her opponent who was trying to adjust her stance to match Mercy's. Mercy nodded in approval and held her sword in front of her. "Attack me again, but a little faster and in a different spot." She directed.

The teen complied and Khrys watched as Mercy altered her position to keep from getting off balance, and other things such as how she held the wooden sword in her hands.

The demonstration went on for a while and Khrys found herself watching eagerly along with the class. When the pair stopped, Khrys' shoulders sagged slightly in disappointment. She had been learning so much from Mercy.

"Pair up!" Mercy called. "Get to a mat, and practice what I've just shown you." Khrys turned her head to immediately look for Kathy. She pushed past a couple people when she caught sight of a lock of golden hair and bumped into the girls back.

Kathy turned and smiled. "I was looking for you." She laughed. Khrys smiled.

"Same here. Wanna practice?" She asked. Kathy nodded eagerly and slipped off her heels.

"Yeah, just go easy on me. I'm wearing a skirt."

Khrys laughed as she stepped onto the dark blue and squishy surface. Kathy faced opposite her and they both took a few minuets to adjust their bodies into what Mercy had said was the correct sound of wooden swords knocking against each other and the grunts as people reacted too slow, steadily began to increase.

Khrys lifted up her unbalanced sword. "Ready?" She called out eagerly.

"Wait, am I attacking first or you?" Kathy asked.

"I'll attack first." Khrys offered. Kathy flashed a bright smile and nodded.

Khrys narrowed her eyes, trying to remember what Mercy had said and done, trying to apply that to attacking. Sure they weren't learning offense yet, didn't mean they couldn't try to learn, right?

Deciding to go easy on Kathy since it was the first time for both of them, Khrys made a swing that would have split her in half otherwise. Kathy easily blocked.

"Come on, harder!" Kathy teased. Khrys smiled and narrowed her eyes. She lunged, aimed for her neck and then drew back to aim at her knee's.

Surprisingly, instead of blocking, Kathy simply jumped over it. Khrys blinked. "That's cheating!" She complained. Kathy stuck out her tongue.

"No it's not. This is defense class, I defended myself." Kathy objected.

Khrys frowned. She would have loved to argue her point, but she really wanted to have a turn to defend. "Fine." She conceded and Kathy grinned wider. "Now can we please continue?" Kathy laughed at her eagerness but nodded and they once again clashed.

Khrys had never had a more fun gym class, even dodgeball was nothing compared to the pure thrill of fighting. Which sounds stupid, yes, but it was the first time Khrys' ADHD hadn't bothered her. Probably because she _wanted _to learn and focus and not get distracted.

The time flew, and halfway through Mercy called for them to switch. Eager to try defense, Khrys stopped mid-swing and backed up to the edge of the mat. Her shirt was sticking to her back uncomfortably and Kathy's hair was a frizzy mess, but the pair of them was smiling gaily.

Kathy attacked and Khrys found out something very important in that instant.

Khrys couldn't defend herself worth crud.

Her reaction time was slow and she was lucky Kathy had been going slow, otherwise, she could have gotten a decent sized bump on her head.

"Sorry!" Kathy apologized.

Khrys smiled and flatted her hair. "No worries!" She said, trying to sound happy. "Let's just try again."

And they did try again. And again and again. Every time Khrys missed only lowered her enthusiasm until it was non existent.

On what felt like the one millionth try, Khrys began to feel like someone was staring at her. The hairs on the nape of her neck began to prickle and she turned her head without thinking of the attacking Kathy. She searched and her eyes locked with another girl.

She wasn't even trying to hide the fact that she was looking at Khrys. She sneered at her, and Khrys frowned. She was tall, and very well muscled. She had her hair pulled back in a messy bun, and her ratty sneakers, torn jeans and plain green t-shirt brought back memories of a play ground bully.

The only reason Khrys stopped staring was because Kathy started tugging her arm.

"Come on!" She hissed. "Mercy's asking us to join her in the center."

Khrys blinked and looked around, surprised to see that everyone in the room had gathered around the central mat. She hurried after Kathy to join the group. She followed behind her as she pushed her way to the front.

"I've been watching your progress." Mercy was saying. "All of you show promise." Most of the kids smiled at her words, but Khrys glowered. That was a lie. Not all of them showed promise, Khry's was downright awful.

"I wanted to let the person whom I thought showed the most promise, to come up here with a partner to demonstrate a quick fight for the class before we leave." Mercy continued.

Khrys glanced at Kathy out of the corner of her eye. She had been really good, she'd shown a lot of skill in her opinion.

But Mercy wasn't looking at Kathy. She was looking at the tall buff girl who had been staring at Khrys earlier.

"You were exceptionally good." Mercy said and gestured for her to come stand next to her. "What's your name?"

The girl grinned. "Clover."

A few kids whispered to their friends and laughed but a quick glare from Clover shut them up. Mercy, oblivious to it all, was still talking.

"Would you like me to chose a partner, or would you like to chose one yourself?"

Clover smiled cruelly and Khrys felt like a ball of ice was resting in the pit of her stomach.

"I would like to choose please." Clover let her gaze travel over the group, but Khrys new she was only pretending to look. Her suspicions were only confirmed when Clover's eyes rested on Khrys and her smile grew.

"Would you be my partner?" She asked.

Khrys swallowed. She couldn't say no, and she didn't trust herself to speak. She nodded and slowly made her way to the mat. Her practice sword suddenly felt tons heavier than before as she turned to face Clover. They positioned themselves but no one moved.

"One of you needs to attack." Mercy finally spoke up, sounding mildly annoyed.

She didn't have to tell Khrys twice. She flew at Clover and made a wild lunge at her stomach. Instead of simply blocking the blade, Clover dropped to her knee's and arched her back so that the sword thrust over her nose. Her panic steering her on, Khrys made to slice her sword downward but Clover only rolled to the side and jumped to her feet.

Several kids were cheering, finally getting to see a real fight. Kathy looked pale faced as she stood like a rock but Khrys could barely afford a second to look at her friend. Clover had begun circling Khrys and she moved to circle around Clover as well.

Trying to keep this as a simply demonstration, Kathy made a swing at Clover's knee's.

Clover did something Khry's hadn't expected. She jumped up, but at the same time lashed her legs out in front of her which effectively knocked the breath out of her lungs. Khrys fell back words and her sword fell out of her hands.

Either everyone had gone quiet or the blood pounding in her ears was drowning out the world because Khrys couldn't hear anything. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. She inhaled a meager amount and rolled on her side to try and push herself up but a booted foot crashed into her side. Pain erupted in her body and her vision blurred as tears sprung to her eyes. She felt herself getting lifted up by the front of her shirt.

Clover lifted up until her feet were dangling above the mat. Khrys' head lolled to the side.

"Give up?" Clover asked. There was a strange glint to her eye as she cocked her fist back. It was then that Khrys' hearing came back. There was screaming, yelling. Hands reached out to grab Clover but didn't reach her in time to stop her from punching Khrys square in the face.

More pain. Blinding and white hot. Something wet was beginning to drip down her lip. Khrys was getting tunnel vision. The grip on her shirt loosened and she dropped to the floor with a faint groan as the impact jostled her already bruised ribs. Soft hands grasped her shoulders a second later and rolled her onto her back. A concerned face, pale with blue eyes and blond hair, looked down at her.

Kathy's mouth was opening and closing but Khrys couldn't register what she was saying. She stared at her in confusion, the pain slowly becoming overwhelming. It hurt to breathe. Was it supposed to hurt to breathe? She didn't know any more, her mind was becoming foggy.

Soft hands were replaced by strong ones. She felt herself being picked up, placed on something soft. A bed? No, she was being lifted up. Khrys was on a stretcher. Khrys tried to get up but her muscles weren't responding. Was she in shock?

A concerned face swam into view. Kathy was fallowing her and saying something but Khrys still couldn't understand what she was saying. Her vision darkened, and she lost consciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! I'm here with an awesome Christmas/Kwanzaa/Hanukkah special!**

**TerraBird: I'm glad you feel that way about everyone but I can't take all the credit for amazing characters :D**

**Magnolia Flower: Thanks!**

**Also, this chapter is special 'cause there's this character that-**

* * *

><p><em><strong>I'<strong>__**m dreaming **_

_**of a white Christmas **_

_**Just like the ones I used to know...**_

_**~ Irving Berlin : White Christmas ~**_

At first, Khrys couldn't tell if she was still unconscious or not. The world was still dark because her eyes were shut and it was still quiet. Only when her chest twinged painfully when she inhaled, did she acknowledge she was awake again. And Khrys kind of wished she wasn't. Her chest throbbed were Clovers boots had made contact.

Khrys opened on eye slowly and screwed it shut again as bright, white light nearly blinded her. Even when she was back into the embrace of darkness, multicolored spots danced behind her eyelids.

"Khrys? Are you awake?" It was Kathy's voice and she sounded worried. Khrys once again attempted to open her eyes and this time found it easier. In the corner of her vision, Khrys caught sight of the concerned daughter of Apollo leaning over to look at her.

"Hey." Khrys grunted. Khrys tried to smile but something on her lip split and she felt something wet, well up on her upper lip. Kathy leaned over and handed Khrys a tissue and she gently placed it on her lip. When she drew it away, the white was stained with red.

"So, your awake." Kathy said and she leaned back in her chair. Khrys only grunted.

"I feel like crud." Khrys groaned. She tried to sit up but the movement caused her chest to scream in pain. Khrys couldn't help but let out a gasp of pain and slowly lowered herself back down.

Khrys rested her head on a pillow and realized with a start that she didn't recognize where she was. She looked around and caught sight of pristine white walls and shining tile floors. Rows of white linen sheets folded crisply over hospital cots were lined on her left, right, and across from her. The only thing lacking in the hospital room-like scene was the smell of Antiseptic and rubbing alcohol.

"Where am I?" Khrys asked and turned back to look at Kathy.

"The Hospital Room. You were actually the first patient to be brought here since school started this year." Kathy informed her and smiled apologetically. "Hey, do you think you can eat lying down?" She asked as she reached over near Khrys' head to grab something on a metal nightstand.

Khrys blinked in confusion and craned her head to see what Kathy was reaching for. "Yeah, why?" She asked. Khrys caught sight of what looked like a golden brownie in Kathy's hand and her curiosity grew.

"This is Ambrosia." Kathy said. "It's the food of the gods and can heal Demigods. The only downside, is that too much can burn you to ash." She held it out for Khrys to take.

Khrys only pursed her lips and refused to take it. Being burnt until she was a pile of gray particles, didn't really sound like a good idea for her future. "Don't want." She muttered like a child.

Kathy sighed. "Look, your in pain aren't you? Do you want to feel better or not?"

Khrys glared at Kathy but couldn't argue against the fact that she _did _want to feel better. She reached out and grabbed the square of Ambrosia and brought it to her lips, ignoring the triumphant grin that flashed across Kathy's face. Khrys took a bite tentatively and felt it melt on her tongue almost instantly.

It didn't taste like brownies like she had suspected it would. In fact, it tasted like her moms fruit salad. The fruit fresh after having come from the tiny but well tended terrace garden her mother and her loved to care for. Khrys felt a wave of homesickness wash over her at the memory of her mother but pushed it down as she finished the godly food.

A warm feeling was spreading across her chest and her lip as she chewed. It faded away after a while and took the pain with it. Khrys swallowed and sighed blissfully.

"Feeling better?" Kathy asked as Khrys pushed herself into a sitting position.

"Much. Thanks." Khrys reached up to touch her lip and felt smooth unbroken skin beneath her finger tips. "What did I miss?" She asked and let her hand fall to her side.

"Well, you were out for over an hour and missed Monster Identification Class and Greek History Class. Oh, and Andre and Ezra came by to say hello. And so did your brothers. Liam and Mathew I think?"

"Marcus." Khrys corrected and Kathy nodded.

"Yeah, him."

Khrys nodded and rolled her legs over the side of the bed. "Is it time for the next class yet?" She asked and looked around and managed to locate her bag pushed halfway under the bed.

"No. I have a free period right now. What's your next class?"

Khrys pulled her bag out and rested it on her lap before leafing through her papers. "I...have.." She held up her paper and squinted at the words. "Mentem Powers class with Lady Hazel. Wait. Powers class?"

Kathy gasped. "You have powers?! Cool!"

"No I don't!" Khrys objected. "There must be some mistake."

Kathy pulled a face. "I don't know Khrys. The gods here don't make mistakes. At least schedule wise. Has there been any instances in your life where you've done something strange?"

Khrys frowned and stared down at her paper. "Well...a...a few times. But they're not important right now." Kathy looked like she wanted to disagree but politely let it go.

"Why don't we get out of here then?" Kathy asked.

"Can we do that?" Khrys asked. To be honest, she _was _eager to get out of here. The blank cleanness of of it all freaked her out a bit.

"Yeah, as a daughter of Apollo, I have the authority to take patients out." Kathy grinned. "I spent my entire free period here. I got to keep an eye on you, and I got to learn some things about healing!"

Khrys grinned at her friends happiness as she slid off the bed and onto the floor. "Cool." She slung her bag over her shoulder and headed towards the door, the dark wood standing out against the white. Kathy got up from her seat beside the bed and walked next to her.

"How long until next period?" Khrys asked. Kathy opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted when the same female voice that had been ushering them on all day spoke up.

"Well, that answer that." Khrys said and pushed open the door to head towards the classrooms. The throng of kids hurrying around pushed her and Kathy apart. "I'll see you next period!" Khrys called and Kathy waved before heading off.

Khrys planted her feet to keep from getting pushed back and forth by the crowd. She stared at her schedule and looked for the class number. It was the sixth room on the first floor. She lifted her head to look around. The crowds were thinning quickly, just as Khrys had begun to expect them too.

She headed under the second floor and peered at the first floor numbers. It wasn't long before she noticed the larger numbers were farther from the front doors. Khrys picked up her step and hurried towards the front while at the same time, glancing at the numbers engraved in the wood.

"Nine...seven...six!" Khrys skidded to a halt and pushed open the door. She stepped in and quietly shut the door behind her just as the womans voice called out "Students should now be in their class's."

Except that the voice sounded stronger...and wasn't echoing as it would in the spacious halls. Khrys looked into the large and empty classroom and easily pinpointed the voice.

A girl younger than Khrys, with dark skin and cinnamon colored hair, had been speaking into a microphone. She had finished and was now making her way towards the kids gathered against the wall opposite the door. Khrys dropped her stuff near the door and hurried to make her way over.

There were three kids in the class, four including Khrys. She slid in at the end of the line next to a tall boy who was standing next to a girl who looked just like him. Just in a female version. They were both tall and had curly red hair. Their pale skin was covered in freckles and their green eyes shone bright.

Khrys didn't want to stare, she hadn't seem many twins. At least she assumed that they were twins, maybe they were just identical looking siblings.

"Khrys Westen?" Khrys whipped her head to look at the girl who had called her name. It was the announcer, the girl with curly cinnamon hair.

"Oh...um, hi." Khrys said and felt her cheeks heating up. "Are you lady Hazel?" She couldn't tell, this girl was younger than her and didn't much resemble Lady Athena who was the only god who Khrys had been in close proximity with. The only thing strange about her were her eyes. The iris's were golden. But Khrys had learned pretty quick not to let looks deceive her. But that didn't mean it wasn't hard to keep her mind from jumping to conclusions.

"Yes I am." Hazel said with a smile. "Since your a new student, I thought you might like some help."

"Oh." Khrys blinked in surprise and leaned up against the wall. "But...isn't everyone here a new student?" She asked and looked around.

"As you can see, we're a small class." Hazel spoke. "So instead of having several individual class', we combined them all together."

"Well, okay then." Khrys said slowly. "I um... I just don't know what to do. I don't even know what my er-power is." She admitted. She expected Hazel to say something chastising but she didn't.

"That's alright, just come with me and we'll check the list." Hazel gestured for her to follow after her and headed to a lone desk in one corner of the room. Upon reaching it, Hazel opened one of the drawers and pulled out a long sheet of paper. She trailed her finger down the presumable list and grinned.

"Why, it seems you have the ability to render your opponents temporarily mad."

Khrys stared at Hazel with her mouth partly open. "Pardon?" She said as she gaped at the girl.

"You heard me." Hazel said with a small smile as she put the list back where it belonged.

"But..how? How would I have this power? And how would you know?" Khrys demanded.

Hazels eyes gleamed. "Your a daughter of Dionysus aren't you? The god of wine and madness?" Khrys nodded slowly. "Well, a god can often pass on a weaker power of theirs to their children. Like how Aphrodite can give her children the power to Charmspeak. It's rare, but it still happens. Now why don't I introduce you to your classmates?" She headed towards the kids gathered together. Khrys hesitated a second before she followed her. She noticed how Hazel hadn't answered her other question and stored that information away.

"Everyone!" Hazel called out. "Gather round please!" The talking quieted and everyone meandered over to join the two. "Everyone, this is Khrys. She's a daughter of Dionysus." Khrys smiled and gave a small wave to everyone though inside she was wishing she could just sit in a corner of the room and be unnoticed. "Khrys, this is Tammy," Hazel pointed to the red haired girl Khrys had seen earlier. "And her brother Tom. Children of Hecate." The two murmured a quiet hello but otherwise seemed uninterested in Khrys. "And this is Alice, a daughter of Aphrodite." A girl with chestnut brown hair and coal black eyes grinned and waved to Khrys energetically. Khrys gave her a polite wave but decided that she was fine with being friends with two energetic people and didn't need a third.

"Why don't you three practice your powers on each other?" Hazel suggested and the three Demigods dispersed to the other side of the room to give them space.

"Now," Hazel spoke up. "Khrys, what would you prefer to do first?" Khrys blinked in surprise.

"What do you mean?" She said warily. She only had one power, what could she possibly do 'first'?

"Well, would you like to learn how to use your powers on command?" Hazel suggested calmly.

"Actually," Khrys said slowly. "I would like to know how I've managed to use my powers in the past without knowing I even had them."

Hazel nodded and smiled. "And excellent question." She said to the daughter of Dionysus who flushed when she remembered how Athena had said that to her in math. "You see, even if you don't know you have a power, when under extreme stress or when you have highly emotional moments, you subconsciously summon it. Your mind goes into self preservation mode, and searches for ways to protect itself and often finds the most powerful way to do so."

Khrys nodded slowly, still slightly confused but refusing to show it. "And how would I _consciously _use my powers?" She questioned.

"How about you pretend I'm trying to hurt you." Hazel suggested. "Search for any signs of something inside of you that could help defend yourself. Try and get the feel of it, so you can recognize the feeling later on in more dire situations."

"Okay then." Khrys said dubiously and narrowed her eyes in concentration. She stared at Hazel who stood calmly before her, waiting with the utmost patience. She tried to imagine her with malicious intent in her eyes and searched for the feel of adrenaline being pumped into her veins.

But her imagination had never been good, and she just couldn't find how to trick herself into thinking so. Disappointed, Khrys' shoulders sagged. But then her gaze hardened. This wasn't like her. When did she let herself give up? Khrys tightened her hands into fists and tried again. This time, she imagined a bubble was around Hazels head. Khrys needed to find a way into that bubble. She strained, mentally working to get inside and create havoc. Her mind felt like it was going to burst. For a second, she thought she saw Hazels eyes glaze over but then it disappeared and Khrys fell limp.

Khrys took in a shaky breath, not having realized she'd been holding it in. "Well done." Hazel said warmly.

"What?" Khrys asked and looked up. "Did I..did I manage to do it?" She asked warily, not daring to get her hopes up.

Hazel smiled and nodded. "Yes, it wasn't very strong, but you did well for your first time purposefully attempting." Then Hazels eyes hardened. "Now, try again."

~(._.)~

"My brain has never felt tired before." Khrys said as she stared down at her food. Even though Khrys' class with Hazel hadn't been the last class of the day, and she'd had two others afterwords to relax, she still felt like it had left her more exhausted -especially mentally- than any of her other class's before.

"That must suck." Ezra said and pointed his fork at her. "But think about it! You've got an amazing and rare power!"

Khrys groaned. "I don't want to think about anything right now!"

Kathy patted Khrys' shoulder comfortingly. "Aw, it can't be that bad. Hey, what was worse? Clover kicking you in the chest or your class?"

Khrys shrugged. "I don't know. And why'd you have to bring that up?" She snapped. Inwardly, she was wincing at the memory of her terrible defense and how badly she'd been beaten up.

"Sorry." Kathy whispered. "I don't see why it's such a bid deal for you though. No one's perfect first time."

"Yeah," Khrys sighed. "But no one sucks after three hundred times either." Khrys glowered at the stone table top, resentment towards herself burning like a bonfire in her stomach. She pushed her plate of food away and got to her feet. "I'm going to go to bed early. See you guys later."

"Are you sure?" Andre asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm just really tired. I'll see you guys later." She gave them a little halfhearted wave before making her way past the tables towards the doors. Her friends waved and called good-bye to her before their voices were drowned out by the chatter of the other students. Khrys opened one of the doors to the cafeteria and shut it behind her, the sounds of everyone inside instantly being cut off behind her and instantly leaving her in a strange silence.

Khrys shivered, feeling as though ice cold water had suddenly been dumped down her back. She shoved her hands into her pockets and shuffled over to the stair way towards the second floor, but she paused at the base of the steps, one foot raised over the first step. Khrys turned her head to peer at the door to the gym. Khrys turned back to the steps but seemed unable to tear herself away from the first floor. She looked back once more before taking and breath and turning around completely. Khrys walked towards the gym, the sound of her converse echoing in the halls. When she was close to it, she slowed down. Khrys pressed her ear to the wood and listened close for any sound that would indicate someone was already in there. When didn't hear anything or anyone she pushed open the door and made her way inside.

The gym was quiet and dark but when she got inside the lights flickered on as if sensing someone had entered and needed to see. Khrys nearly jumped out of her skin when it did, but passed it off as nothing out of the ordinary. Khrys looked around and was relieved to see that the rack of wooden swords were pushed up against the same wall as the dummies.

The rack was noticeably emptier than when Khrys had last seen it(many of them littered the floor in broken heaps) but there were still a few swords hanging of it. Khrys took her time in picking a sword, lifting one up and giving it an experimental slash until she found one that was somewhat more balanced than her previous one and she found far easier to control. Satisfied with the three and a half foot blade, she turned to a cloth dummy filled with straw and held up by a wooden pole.

She lugged both objects over to one of the mats still on the floor. Khrys steadied the dummy on it's stand and then stepped back. Khrys took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes. In her mind, the dummy was an enemy in Greek armor. It held a sword and Khrys pretended that she was being attacked. Her imagination still wasn't the best, but it would do

She held up her sword and pretended to block a blade that would have cut her in half, lengthwise. She blocked and made wild swings as though she was attacking a ferocious opponent. Khrys narrowed her eyes and pushed herself as hard as she could. She refused to stop and take a break. Sweat began to bead her brow and dampen her shirt as she forced herself to endure the fatigue that tugged at her limbs.

Only when Khrys felt ready to collapse did she stop. She leaned on her sword for support and eyed the dummy as she heaved for air. Rips in the fabric revealed the straw inside and she couldn't help but feel pleased at her handiwork until the feeling was washed away by a wave of dread that settled over her when she heard the sound of the gym door opening.

Khrys whirled around and stiffened as she caught sight of the other person who also froze at the sight of her. Slowly, he shut the door behind him and walked into the glare of the gym lights. He didn't even stop to look at her before he headed towards the dummies.

She watched him with a cautious eye. He had shaggy, sandy hair and was tall with tanned skin. A pale, crescent shaped scar gleamed on one of his cheeks. Khrys couldn't see his eyes, they were hidden by sunglasses, but she assumed they were blue since it would complete the surfer dude image that was forming in her mind.

Since he hadn't said anything to her, Khrys didn't either and returned to hacking at the dummy. Parry, block, parry, block.

She felt the hairs on her nape prickle in that familiar feeling as she began to realize someone was staring at her. She gave one last sloppy jab and turned to face the teen. He was staring at her from over by the dummies. His expression was unreadable but he didn't try to hide the fact that he had been staring at her, his arms crossed over his chest. It gave her de ja vu and reminding her of Clover.

"Can I help you?" Khrys asked in irritation and wiped the sweat off her forehead with her forearm.

"You're doing it wrong."

"Pardon?" Khrys snapped at him, her exhaustion making her snappier then usual. The other boy sighed but otherwise seemed unbothered by her attitude as he made his way over. He grabbed a random sword of the rack on his way and paused a few feet in front of Khrys.

"Look, you're holding it like this." He moved his hands to mirror her own grip on the hilt."You need to bring them closer up, like this, see?" He said and adjusted his own hands accordingly.

"Why should I believe you?" Khrys snapped immediately. One of his eyebrows lifted in surprise that she should doubt him.

"I've been training in sword fighting since I was twelve." He informed her though he didn't sound like he was bragging. "And I'm assuming that since your here late at night, hacking at a dummy, your trying to improve. So I'm offering to help you. Would you rather continue to do it wrong and get killed in combat someday?"

Khrys clenched her teeth as her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "No." She muttered and altered her hand position to match his. He nodded his approval to her.

"Now, move your feet like this." He said. He bent his knee's and shuffled his feet into a position that Khrys recognized Mercy had been using during class. Looking at his feet, she worked to copy it though she wobbled as she tried to balance. He once again nodded to show she was doing it right.

"You learn fast." He said. Khrys opened her mouth to say thank you but he was already plowing on. "In sword fighting, you need to make sure to remain balanced. Distribute your weight evenly. Otherwise, your opponent can tip you over and then that'd be the end of you."

He didn't sound like he was joking so Khrys did as he said, trying to evenly apply her weight on both feet."Why are you helping me?" She asked as sh leaned forward a tad more. He shrugged but didn't drop his stance.

"Give's me something better to do." He answered gruffly.

"What's your name?" She asked him.

He sighed, his sword lowering to the ground. "Peter Johnson." He said after a moments hesitation. Khrys narrowed her eyes slightly at his hesitance but otherwise couldn't care less. She straightened up and held out her hand.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Khrys Westen." She informed him. Peter eyed her hand warrily for a second before he too, stood straight. He reached out and gripped her hand in his much larger one. She could feel the calloused skin as they shook and she couldn't help but wonder if it was because he fought often.

"Do you still want my help or not?" He asked her when they let go of each other.

"Of course!" Khrys said hastily. She knew she could use all the help she could get.

"Alright then. Face me."


End file.
